Of Truth and Incompetence
by shipscanbelovely
Summary: In which Bolin, Korra and Mako return to a rough practice. Spoilers for The Spirit of Competition.


Practice that day started out awkward, which the three of them definitely expected. No one spoke about it, in fact, all of them hardly spoke at all. Bolin attempted to make some jokes while he fumbled with his bending, which turned out to be a bad idea considering he was still recovering from his injury. Korra's balance was off, and her movements became more aggressive. It wasn't that she was angry at Mako, they "resolved" their issue at the end of their last match. Korra was frustrated with herself, for _everything_. She wish she hadn't gone out with Bolin- Korra had lots of fun with him, but the tears he cried made her feel guilty and terrible. _As if hurting Bolin wasn't enough_, Korra thought, agitated. _How could I have been so stupid to kiss Mako while he's with Asami! _She scolded herself. _But he did kiss me back, _she thought as she continued to feel confused and dejected.

Korra glanced at Mako just in time to dodge several flames. _I think it'd be better if he didn't like me, that would make this mess easier to get out of_, she mused. Korra pushed water Bolin's way. She winced as she saw Bolin strain himself to earthbend it out of his sight, and due to her ambivalent emotions, Korra flung shards of ice in Mako's direction. Mako was barely able to get out of the way in time. The Fire-ferrets all stopped their bending. Mako and Korra were glaring darts at each other with their fiery eyes. Bolin sighed as he out his arms up in a peaceful gesture.

"Come on you two, we need to keep our focus on the training for the tournament!" Bolin urged. But his endeavor wasn't successful, the young Avatar released blazes of fire from her palms. Mako's brows were low as he took a step to the girl he had conflicted feelings with.

"Ahem!" Bolin coughed. "Well, maybe we've had enough practicing for today, don't you agree, Pabu?" Pabu squeaked nervously in response as he climbed up around Bolin's unhurt arm. The tension between his brother and his- what? _Girl_ _that broke my heart but still cares about me? Friend? Teammate?_ Bolin frowned as he tried to categorize Korra. But the flames creeping from Korra's hands made Bolin shake his head, remembering that the tension was still there, something he wasn't going to settle for.

"Guys!" Bolin shouted, and this time they both turned their heads to look at him. Mako stared solemnly in his brother's eyes, and looked down ashamed. Korra's eyes, however, resembled an icy shade of blue which lingered in Bolin's direction. Korra's eyes descended from nearly hostile to embarrassed. _Well played Korra_, she thought to herself as she insolently took off her helmet.

"You're right Bolin," she pointed out. "I think we have had enough practice for today." With that remark, Korra stormed out, infuriated with herself even more.

The two brothers stood there uneasily. Bolin whistled the tune of something Mako was familiar with but couldn't place. Mako coughed into his fist, which caused Bo to raise a brow.

"What?" Bolin asked incredulously. "_I _didn't do anything wrong!" Bolin proclaimed, defensively.

"Meaning what?" Mako snapped. "That I did?" Bolin shrugged in response. Mako stared at Bolin in disbelief.

"So it's _my _fault that Korra went off and had a fit?" Mako questioned, softening his voice not wanting to upset his younger brother.

"Well, considering everything that's happened between you two, yeah. I would only guess that it'd be you." Bolin admitted apathetically.

"It'd only be me what?" Mako huffed.

"To be who she gets ticked off at." Bolin replied as he took his helmet off.

"So you're blaming me." Mako stated.

"Yep! Sounds about right." Bolin confirmed. Mako sighed.

"I should probably go talk to her shouldn't I." Mako muttered, just loud enough for his sibling to hear. "Yeah I think that'd be a good idea. Be easy with her you know? We've all been through a lot in the last few days." Bolin insisted. Mako nodded.

"You're right, I'll go talk to her." Mako said. Bolin grinned in acknowledgement. With that, Mako took off in Korra's direction.

He saw her dressed in her regular Water Tribe attire, ready to leave.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Mako demanded. Korra turned around and glared at him, repulsed.

"Air Temple Island, _where else_?" she snapped. Mako glared back, he was more concerned than angry.

"Look, I know things were rough, but I thought we agreed to still be friends!" Mako divulged, fuming.

"We are! I'm just, _ugh!_"Korra groaned. Mako remained silent.

"I'm just- I'm just furious with myself," Korra confided. Mako's eyes widened.

"Wait, why? If you're mad at anyone it should be _me_." his attempt of convincing her quickly went down the drain.

"No, Mako. This whole mess is my fault, I just need some time to clear my head, airbending will probably help with that." Korra clarified, almost completely calm.

"Well, if you say so," he paused, thinking. "See you early tomorrow morning, okay?" Mako smiled a bit, and Korra smiled in return.

"Yup! Nice and early," Korra made a quick face of resentment from dreading about the morning. "And tell Bolin he better toughen up, I won't go so easy on him tomorrow just because he got hurt. See ya!" Korra turned and made her way to Air Temple Island, satisfied that the next practice would turn out a lot better.

Later that evening, Mako and Bolin were lounging about in the attic, devouring dumplings, when an interesting question crept into Bolin's mind.

"Hey Mako, can I ask you something?" Mako glanced warily at his brother and nodded.

"Does, uh, Asami know about you and uh, Korra?" Bolin stammered, dreading the answer.

Mako didn't say anything, which confirmed Bolin's suspicion. "Great," Bolin muttered to himself. "Now we're going to have to clean up _that _mess." and suddenly, Bolin lost his appetite.

"Are you going to tell her, Mako? She deserves to know." Bolin stressed, starting to get irritated. Mako sat still, uncomfortably, for a bit.

"I guess it _would _be the right thing to do," Mako admitted. "I don't want to hurt her." he added, getting a scoff from Bolin.

"Well I think it would hurt her more if you kept something like that from her." Bolin denounced. Mako grumbled as he got up from the couch.

"You're right Bo, I'll- I'll tell her when the time is right," Mako lied.

"Oh, and when will that be?" Bolin asked, somewhat spitefully. Mako stopped walking.

"_You_ tell _me_."

**AN: Please review if possible, I'd especially like constructive criticism. **


End file.
